Choke
by Kathea
Summary: Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall. Proverbs 16:18 All reviews will be answered on my homepage, see my bio.


Title: Choke

Author: Kathea

Rating: PG-13

Paring: Lee/Kara

Disclaimer: I don't own them, unfortunately.

Summary: Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall. Proverbs 16:18 (NIV)

AN: After watching Colonial Day, I just had to do a piece about the party. It just seems that as much as Kara and Lee have great chemistry, two things get in their way. I'm going to try to explore all that in a one-shot. Enjoy.

The locker room was empty by the time Lee "Apollo" Adama and Kara "Starbuck" Thrace had made it back to Galactica from the Cloud Nine. Both pilots had been more than happy to give up their duty to their replacements and catch just a little down time. It wasn't an easy thing to live your life constantly on alert. Even the usually steady, Lee Adama was starting to wear thin. He slammed the locker door open and viciously pushed the buttons out of their holes on his jacket. Kara turned around as she was taking off an earring to watch in amusement as Lee struggled to get out of his jacket.

"You got a problem there, Apollo?" She asked with a smug grin on her face.

"No." he growled back and quickly shoved his jacket into his locker. The anger was thick in his throat, threatening to boil up and over the top. It was choking him and all the words he wanted to say.

Kara leaned back against her own locker and continued to grin. Lee was fired up about something that was for sure. When he slammed his fist into the locker door, Kara got just a bit alarmed. Apollo wasn't usually one for physical violence but he would fight fiercely if provoked. Evidently, someone had poked at him pretty badly tonight.

"You know, we never did finish our dance." Kara said softly trying to calm her friend, not really wanting to fight this night.

"Yeah? And whose fault is that I wonder?" Lee said angrily. Kara's eyes narrowed at the underlying insult.

"Look, flyboy, you let him cut in." Kara said tightly.

"You went with him."

"What reason did I have to stay?" Kara said hotly, her voice bottling up in her throat.

"But I didn't want you to go." Lee said his voice rising.

"Then why the frak didn't you say anything?" Kara screamed at him.

"What was I supposed to say?" Lee yelled back. "Go get your own girl, Baltar? This one's mine. Yeah, that'd go over real well."

Frak, she'd hurt him, really hurt him. "Oh, so this is about you and your damned pride. Lords forbid if you break a rule." Kara said spitefully not knowing how to react any other way. A burst of regret had her slamming her fists into unyielding metal of the lockers.

"I've broken enough rules for you Thrace." Lee said quietly. Kara sucked in a quick breath at the implications in Lee's simple statement. It was like a quick jab in the stomach, a sucker punch if there ever was one.

"Oh, oh oh. I was going to hold back seeing as how we are friends but not anymore. You shouldn't start fights with me, Adama. I thought you knew that by now." Kara said in a deceptively light voice as she stepped towards Lee. To her surprise, Lee surged across the intervening space and had her pinned against the lockers before she could bring her fist up to swing. "Let me go, you bastard."

"I thought Starbuck finished everything she started." Lee said pressing Kara's forearms painfully against the lockers.

"I'll be more than happy to the second you let me go."

"That's it isn't it? You were pissed because I let you go." Lee said harshly the realization dawning on him suddenly.

"You are insane."

"No, I'm right and you know it."

"It must be nice being right all the time. It probably goes well with the self-righteous stick you have shoved up your…"

Kara would have finished her sentence if Lee's lips weren't attacking hers and his tongue wasn't dancing with hers. She really wanted to, a good insult like that shouldn't be wasted. After a second, Lee pulled back, the look on his face said he was shocked by his own actions. His eyes were dark with lust and some other intangible emotion and he was still pinning her to the locker. Kara had the grace to blush as they both struggled to slow their breathing back to something close to normal. She ducked her head then, not wanting to watch his eyes anymore. Their years together had given Kara the ability to read Lee Adama like a book. His eyes always gave him away. "I didn't want you to let me go." Kara mumbled.

"What was that?" Lee asked softly hoping he heard her correctly, his heart thudding painfully in his chest.

"I didn't want to dance with Baltar. He's a pompous ass and a pervert to top it all off. Are you happy now?"

"Exceedingly." Lee replied with a quick smile and descended once again on Kara lips. With a quick motion he released her hands only to cup her face. Kara pressed forward trying to get closer. Finally, when air was becoming scarce, Kara pulled away to smile at Apollo.

"Prideful ass." Kara said brushing her fingers across his cheek.

"Arrogant snot." Lee answered her as he traced her collarbone with his hand.

"You wouldn't have me any other way." Kara replied smugly.

"At least now I have you." Lee said seriously.

"You've always had me, Apollo."

THE END


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